Reviews laurel and hardy collection archive#
New 2K and 4K digital restorations from original 35mm nitrate, Laurel and Hardy's classic comedies are here in the best quality since their first release! Two features and 17 shorts, including the legendary pie-fight silent film The Battle of the Century, making its video debut and nearly complete for the first time in over 90 years! Restorations by Jeff Joseph/SabuCat in conjunction with the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Library of Congress. Long live Laurel & Hardy! And here’s to a second set of classics from these two pioneers of comedy, but - for the time being - we have the first, fantastic volume of Laurel & Hardy - The Definitive Restorations.
Reviews laurel and hardy collection how to#
Laurel & Hardy might not have been good businessmen - never making a dime off of their images - but they sure knew how to make people laugh and I, for one, am proud to own this release, have the chance to review it, and share the hilarity with my own seven-year-old boy. This is easily the must-own release of the 2020 year, especially if you are a fan of comedy. Kit Parker Films, for a number of years, have been champions of silent films and of Laurel & Hardy and this release - both in quality and in comedy - is sheer brilliance.
They might have had a lot of peers in the business of making folks laugh, but no one - and I do mean that - no one could match the quality of their comedic output, producing 10 shorts in 1931 alone, made them international superstars for nearly two decades, finally fizzing out in the late 1940s when they lost creative control over their output, but what a ride it was. It’s all on display on the screen, too, thanks to the clarity that these remastered prints display.įrom the head nodding and the hat posturing from Hardy to the whimpering from Laurel, the comedic timing of these two is constantly rewarding and damn right impeccable. Here’s the thing about the comedic duo: their on-screen warmth and immediate likability was a result of their ongoing friendship as the two were very close off screen and recognized (and respected) each other’s talents when it came to timing, physical prowess, and comedic ingenuity.
Including the feature films Sons of the Desert and Way Out West, this AWESOME release contains the shorts (listed alphabetically) Berth Marks, The Battle of the Century, Brats, Busy Bodies, The Chimp, Come Clean, County Hospital, Helpmates, Hog Wild, Me and My Pal, Midnight Patrol, The Music Box, One Good Turn, Scram!, Their First Mistake, Towed in a Hole, and Twice Two! All of the shorts and the films have been restored to their pristine conditions, looking as good as they did when they were originally released.įrom silent shorts to short talkies, the comedy on display here is a sharp-witted mixture of slapstick as the childlike Stan Laurel and the pompous Oliver Hardy try to move a piano up (and down) the 131 steps at Vendome Street in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles with The Music Box, struggle with happiness and matrimony in Sons of the Desert, cause a lot of trouble with hard-boiled eggs and nuts (instead of a box of candy) in County Hospital, destroy pants and a Model T Ford in Busy Bodies, and start an epic pie fight in The Battle of the Century, which is now - thanks to archivist Jon Mirsalis - complete, with the discovery and the restoration of the missing second half of the film.
"easily the must-own release of the 2020 year, especially if you are a fan of comedy"
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